THE BIBLE: A RECORD
According to our definition, the Bible is a selective written record communicating the intent, origin, history, and development of the relationship between God and humanity. But what exactly IS a record?
What is a "record"?
At its most basic, a "record" is a device for collecting and communicating information. It serves as a definitive account or documentation of events, persons, ideas, or experiences. Its primary function is to preserve information for future reference, ensuring that the essence of what occurred remains intact across time and space.
As individuals we might have memories of events or things we have learned, but it is impossible to share a mental memory with others. To communicate any information to others, it has to be in a more permanent form, and for any information that permanent form is usually in writing (or its digital equivalents). The process of creating records has changed tremendously over the millenia: from pictographs carved in stone to the development of alphabetical writing on animal skins and papyrus to printing to digital records now dominating our lives, but the goal remains the same: to safeguard the truth and relevance of information, and pass it on to future generations.
When God wanted to communicate His message to humans through the ages, He also had to create a record. Te Bible is that record, a record spanning thousands of years and a variety of cultural, technological, and linguistic settings.
But creating a record that will be equally meaningful to a nomadic livestock farmer at the dawn of the Iron Age and a rocket scientist of the 21st century, laid some constraints on how to create that record!
The record had to be accessible
If I want someone to read a book I have written, I have to take steps to ensure that they can have access to the book.
God intended His record to communicate to all people of all ages, and to achieve that He had to ensure that it would be available to all. That is why His words and actions were committed to writing so quickly by the human agents, and why He castigated Israel (especially in the book of Isaiah) for not being "a light to the gentiles", the rest of their known world. The words of God that they were guarding so carefully, were never intended for only them, but for all of humanity. We also find God regularly commanding the prophets and other Bible authors to write down what they see and hear and experience.
We will return to this topic in future study units, but God went to great lengths to ensure that His communications were recorded correctly by the original receivers and transmitted to the world. More than that, from earliest times to today, His communication, written mostly in Hebrew and Greek, was translated into other languages to make it accessible to all. And so we find the New Testament writers quoting the Old Testament from the Septuagint, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. It was presumably made for the Jewish communities outside Israel when Greek was the common language throughout the region, but it made God's communication accessible to all of the then-known world.
The record had to be relevant
When we say that "the Bible is relevant to our lives," we are suggesting that the teachings, narratives, and principles found in the Bible have practical significance and can provide guidance, insight, or inspiration in contemporary life. It has to connect to our lives to have meaning for us.The apostle Paul says: "...things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled" (Romans 15:4, NLT). That was the goal of Scripture, and it is amazing how the Bible could speak to generations of people right up to the present day. That's not a happy coincidence, but a consequence of how it was recorded: not as an academic study, but as a narrative unfolding in the lives of ordinary people in Biblical times – something we can relate to.
The Bible's relevance to the modern world lies in its ability to address the needs of contemporary society. Its messages address fundamental aspects of the human experience and provide a framework for understanding and navigating the complexities of modern life. It has something to say about every area of human existence:
¤ Ethical and moral guidance.
¤ Personal and spiritual growth.
¤ Social justice and activism.
¤ Cultural and historical impact.
¤ Community and relationships.
¤ Existential and philosophical questions.
¤ Educational and intellectual engagement.
(Click here for an expanded discussion of these points.)
The record had to be understandable
The Biblical record serves as a bridge between past, present, and future, bringing the communication of God to humanity through time and space, in a form that all can understand. And right here we come to the biggest problem with the Bible as a record: how can a record be created that will carry God's communication from millenia ago to today, in a form that all ages can understand? The first Bible writings were created round about 1600BC, probably earlier, the last parts about AD90 – languages change, cultures change, empires rise and fall, philosophies came and went, human forms of government changed from chiefs to kings to emperors to democracies and dictators.... How can a Book created so long ago make sense to people of future generations?The answers lies in the way everything was recorded: phenomenologically, which means "as it was experienced or seen".
An example: Unlike the people in the ancient world, we know that the sun doesn't "rise" and "set", but that the earth's rotation brings it into a position where the sun's rays can illuminate it, and then rotates us away from those rays of light so that we can sleep...and yet my weather app still tells me that "sunset" is at 17:40. We describe the sun's actions as they appear. When the Bible writers talk about "the rising of the sun", we all understand what it means, from stone age hunters to modern app creators. I'm sure you can think of more examples!
Much of the Bible uses literary descriptions, not scientific language – ensuring that people through the ages could "get" what God was saying to them. Large parts also make use of poetry to express concepts and feelings, even God's actions are described in anthropomorhic (human-like) terms, so that all ages can understand.
The record had to be historical
It almost goes without saying, but if a record stores and communicates information, it has to be historical information: the future can not be a record, and a non-historical collection is a fantasy.Is the Bible historical? You bet! We have said it before, but we'll say it again: The Bible is a historical narrative. And while there are many things that cannot (yet) be corroborated by archaeology and other extra-Biblical sources of historical information, wherever demonstrable facts are available, the Bible has been validated.
This is not a class in archaeology, but here are two examples from the time of Jesus:
¤ Pontius Pilate: for a long time scholars were convinced that he never existed - up until 1961, when the Italian archaeologist Maria Teresa Fortuna Canivet discovered a limestone block while a team led by Dr. Antonio Frova was excavating an ancient theatre near Caesarea Maritima. Although the inscription had been partly removed, enough remained of its Latin writing, which when translated, displayed; Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea, precisely how the gospel author Matthew defined him.
¤ Nazareth: For a long time critics maintained that Nazareth did not exist in the time of Jesus – until the Israel Antiquities Authority reported that the British-Israeli archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre, while excavating in Nazareth in 2009, found the first example of a residential building from the time of Jesus.
God gave us a historical record, not a fantasy or a collection of myths, to communicate His words, actions, and intentions to us.
The record had to be trustworthy
Because the Bible claims to be a historical record, the big question for a lot of people is this: can God's record be trusted?Actually, this is two questions in one:
¤ Firstly, as to the text of the Bible itself: we do not have the original manuscripts, only copies made through the ages... are these in agreement with the original documents?
¤ Secondly, flowing from this, how reliable are the historical details in the Bible?
Reliability of the text: Today there is no shortage of people proclaiming that we can't trust the Biblical texts we have, from scholars to internet instant experts. The truth is, there is no other document from antiquity for which there is such an amount of manuscripts to be studied and compared to ascertain the correct text. Here's a few facts about manuscripts available for ancient documents:
AVAILABLE MANUSCRIPTS |
||
| SUBJECT | NUMBER OF MANUSCRIPTS | TIME BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND EARLIEST COPY |
| NT | Greek: 5,700
Total: More than 24,000 |
Earliest: within one generation
(See start of Study Unit 1) Whole books: Within 100 years Most of NT within 200 years Entire New Testament: within 250 years |
| Aristotle | 49 | 1,450 years |
| Plato | 7 | 1,300 years |
| Homer's Illiad | 643 | 500 years |
Nobody doubts the existence of Aristotle or Plato or the accuracy of texts related to them, do they? Then why doubt the New Testament text?
Yes, there are differences, but they are superficial: different spellings of names and places, different dating methods used by the authors, textual corruptions that can be traced and corrected using the science of textual criticism... but not one Biblical doctrine is changed be these textual differences.
Most problems with the text stem from two basic factors:
¤ Hasty or casual examination of the text (Often, no examination, especially where internet experts and meme creators are concerned).
¤ Faulty assumptions and methods of critics (often selective use of data), and bias on the parts of critics.
We will look at this is detail in future study units, but the Bible text is trustworthy. And instead of starting by looking for extravagant negative explanations, we should employ Occam's Razor: the philosophical principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements – in plain language, "the simplest explanation is usually the best one".
We will look at the science of textual criticism in detail further on, but it gives us tools to look for explanations that make sense. And this is not a particularly "Christian" or "Biblical" science, it is applied in all serious study of ancient documents to get to the most trustworthy text of a document.
Historical reliability: We have already said this, but wherever there are facts from archaeology and other historical sources, the Bible has never been wrong. Here's some examples:
¤ For a long time in the 19th and early 20th centuries scholars have declared that the Hittites have never existed - today we know, from archaeological and written evidence, that they were one of the powerhouses of the ancient Middle East.
Furthermore, we now know that, "along with the Hittite's, Hebrew scribes were the best historians in the entire ancient Near East, despite contrary propaganda from Assyria, Egypt, and elsewhere". (E.M. Blaicklock, "Editor's Preface", The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology, 1990)
¤ During the last two centuries, Luke has been characterised as an unreliable historian, because of the terminology he used in Acts for various government officials they encountered.
Critics said the titles were wrong, from a later period, and so forth - archaeological discoveries have proven Luke to be absolutely correct, not only with titles of officials, but also with geographical details and historical persons.
Inspiration, inerrancy, infallibility?
Whenever the trustworthiness of the Bible is discussed, casually or in academic studies, three related terms are sure to pop up. Let's look briefly at these three (theological) terms , and define and differentiate between them; detailed study will follow in later units.¤ Inspiration: A term referring to the fact that the Bible is breathed out by God; it is a divine product. God superintended the writers of scripture in such a way that the words of are not only the words of the writer, but also the words of God.
¤ Infallibility: The attribute of the Bible whereby it is incapable of teaching any error, since it is breathed out by God who cannot lie.
¤ Inerrancy: The attribute of the Bible in which it is completely true and without error in the original autographs (original manuscript), since it is breathed out by God, who always speaks the truth.
To put it in everyday language:
Inspiration is about the writing of the Bible, specifically the source. The Bible doesn't give a lot of information about the process, but it is clear that the Bible wasn't dictated by God. According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work". The Bible was literally breathed out by God, Paul says; and Peter says that "no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1: 20-21). And yet, it was recorded by humans in such a way that their personalities and circumstances shaped their writing, but it still says exactly what God wants us to know!
Some examples:
¤ The prophet Isaiah (highly-educated, with access to the king's palace) used a huge vocabulary and wrote high-quality prose and poetry; the prophet Amos, on the other hand, was a simple farmer with a much more limited vocabulary – and yet they both spoke and recorded God's message in such a way that it is exactly what God wanted.
¤ In the New Testament, Luke's writing is on par with the best of the ancient world, but Mark produced about the worst Greek prose of all the Bible writers. And once again we absolutely need the writings of both!
Infallibility means that the Bible is true in what it teaches. It is a more foundational doctrine, focusing on what the Bible says about faith and practice. And while we should note the historical and literary context of a teaching, the teaching is true and should be obeyed, irrespective of the context in which we finds ourselves.
Inerrancy means that no mistake was made in the writing of the original manuscripts, that it is true in what it touches. But it comes with a huge caution: the Bible books must be interpreted and understood within the specific context where they were created.
(For proper definitions of these terms, click here.)
We will discuss interpretation later, but here's important examples:
¤ When you look at the Gospels, when the same speech is recorded by more than one writer, there are some differences in the wording – which creates problems for a lot of people, and opportunity for critics. How do we explain those differences?
Here is where historical context is crucial: if we record someone's words today, the expectation is that we will record it verbatim, exactly as spoken; but in ancient historiography they were concerned with accurately getting the gist of what was said. Added to that, they didn't even have quotation marks in the original ancient Greek, so it's often difficult to determine exactly where a speech stops and general writing takes over.
¤ Sometimes the simple fact of who the writers are can influence narratives: Mark writes that Jesus healed a man with a shrivelled hand, but Luke adds that it was his right hand. It's not a contradiction: we should actually expect a medical doctor to notice such a detail!
Daniel B. Wallace, a professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological seminary, one of the world's leading authorities on textual criticism,
explains the three terms as follows: "So if we were to build a pyramid of Bibliology, the broad foundation would be: 'I believe that God has done great acts in history and the Bible has recorded some of those'. On top of that would be: "The Bible is telling me the truth when it comes to matters of faith and practice'. And on the top would be: "The Bible is true in what it touches'[1]."
Inspiration as the base, then infallibilty, then inerrancy.
In summary
God has given us a wonderful record, a trustworthy collection of historical facts about His actions and words,events, and people, to communicate His message to us in a manner we could understand. Through the ages He has inspired the various Bible writers to record, in their own unique way, what He wanted us to know. And He has taken great care to ensure that we can access it today in a form that is meaningful and relevant to us in our current situation.
FOOTNOTES
01. Quoted from an interview with Lee Strobel, in The Case For The Real Jesus, p.75
Strobel, Lee, The Case For The Real Jesus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan). Copyright @ 2007 by Lee Strobel, p.75
Back to discussion · To top